Effect of carbon atoms number in alcohol on combustion

The link between the number of carbon atoms in a fuel with the amount of energy it releases

The results show that the larger the molecule the more energy needed to break more bonds, but more energy is released when more new bonds are formed. There was also incomplete combustion as the flame was orange and soot was formed. Distance of Wick and the bottom of the Calorimeter: This is another controlled variable, and has to be kept constant throughout the experiment. Combustion produces heat as well as carbon dioxide and water. To keep this variable fixed, it can be agreed upon to take a constant volume of water in this case: cm 3. If this experiment was to be done again, then all the possible sources of error mentioned would have to be counteracted and controlled, as well as using a wider range alcohols. This reading should also be noted down carefully.

The simplest alcohol contains a single Carbon atom and is called Methanol. The copper beaker did absorb some heat from the spirit lamp. The main source of error is the heat loss from the calorimeters and all the equipment used.

The following steps can be followed to determine the uncertainties in the data values of the other four alcohols. But the only realistic method could be the draught excluders.

Heat of combustion

These small inaccuracies are caused by slight differences in the values of the fixed variables, like the mass of water not being exactly g, due human error. After the results have been plotted I will add a trendline with the correlation coefficient and equation. Although I have two anomalies in two separate alcohols which means I only have two valid results for the alcohols Ethanol 1. Once the alcohol has started burning, start the stopwatch. The final temperature or the initial temperature of the water does not matter much. This reading should be recorded carefully. To raise water s temperature by a fixed amount, different masses of alcohols will be lost. The final results of the experiment are given as follows: No. Thus, the result of error analysis is as shown below: No.

In this manner, a total of five sets of data will be recorded. The anomalies found were not included in the averages to reduce error.

When it is burnt, there will be one extra C-C bond and two extra C-H bonds to be broken. My actual results in terms of heat energy released per mole was far less than the predicted results.

There was also incomplete combustion as the flame was orange and soot was formed.

Some of the water might have evaporated off, suggesting a mass loss. The alcohols are a homologous series containing the functional OH group, which determines the characteristic reactions of a compound.